Former Lakers Champion Has No Doubts LA Would Have Gone Back-to-Back in 2021

A former Lakers champion believes LA would have gone back-to-back in 2021 without injuries.

The Los Angeles Lakers have made one Western Conference Finals appearance since winning the NBA title in the 2019-20 season. They have underperformed in each of the last few years, with injuries being some of the biggest reasons why.

After the team won the title, the front office dismantled the championship team, much to the disapproval of the fanbase. However, general manager Rob Pelinka built a more balanced team with some younger pieces on the roster.

Los Angeles jumped out to an early 21-7 record but an injury to star Anthony Davis derailed all progress. The Lakers fell down in the standings and then co-star LeBron James suffered an injury as well.

The team limped to the finish line and ended up making the playoffs, facing off against the Phoenix Suns. Los Angeles was finally healthy, for the most part, and they grabbed a 2-1 lead in the series.

But Davis went down with another injury and Los Angeles went on to lose the next three games. Many people believe that if Davis hadn't gotten hurt, the Lakers would have gone back-to-back.

And It seems that former Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma echos the same sentiment for the 2020-21 team as many others. He spoke with ALL-STAR magazine and discussed the team, saying that there was no doubt that Los Angeles would have repeated if injuries hadn't taken place.

“Yeah, for sure, “ Kuzma said. “Easily. I mean, we were up 2-1 and [AD] got hurt and it all went down the drain. That season was hard for us because Bron got hurt — Solomon Hill ran into him — AD was down. We had a lot of different lineups and we came back from the bubble where we won the championship in October and then we had to play like two months later so naturally it was tough but we would’ve won back-to-back.”

It's interesting to hear Kuzma say this because most players don't speak this openly. But Kuzma has never been shy to let his feelings be known.

Following this playoff series, Kuzma was traded away, in a move that brought back guard Russell Westbrook. The Westbrook era was one of the worst in Lakers history so the injury to Davis during the 2020-21 playoffs really changed everything for the franchise.

If Los Angeles goes back-to-back, the Westbrook trade likely never happens and then who knows where the team would be. But in the end, it did happen and it's still frustrating for all involved to think about what could have been with the 2020-21 squad.

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